Say Yes to the Spencer House

If you’ve traveled north on Orange recently you’ve driven by a hotbed of modern controversy. The newly constructed, Guy Peterson designed ‘perforated house’ at Orange and Prospect has people talking. In fact, Sarasota Herald Tribune published two articles on the house written by real estate editor Harold Bubil. The first article Guy Peterson Turns Heads In Sarasota ran on May 11, which resulted in a lively outpouring of comments, prompting HT to run Bubil’s Peterson Explains Perforated House on May 19th.

I’ve been following the construction of this house ever since the Guy Peterson OFA trade sign appeared on site. I’m a huge Peterson fan and was excited to see he had a house going up on a lot that was so exposed. I made a deliberate effort to drive on Orange regularly so I could watch the construction progress. I even took a couple construction pictures. (Totally weird, I know!) Now that it’s complete, I like it. A lot.

There’s lots of geomerty going on in this design. Rectangles and squares aplenty with the low-slung rectangular front wall, a grid of repeating square perforations, horizontal brown slats of the attached garage and the recessed main tower.

This bright, white house doesn’t blend into its surroundings, it stands out. It’s attracts attention and just screams, ‘hey hey people, look at me!” This past February, I attended a Ringling College Library Association Art Lecture Series in which Mr. Peterson was the speaker. During the Q+A I asked him why most of his buildings were painted white. He said he was inspired by architect Richard Meier’s philosophy that white exteriors reflect the colors in nature, making blues look bluer and greens look greener. That is certainly the case here. The green palm fronds pop against the white walls and the building’s silhouette looks quite nice against a bright blue sky.

I love the overall utility of the design because every element has a purpose and it’s clean, simple and modern. It’s all good!

I live in Sarasota, Florida and love modern houses and design. I like open, uncluttered, bright spaces. I like polished concrete, terrazzo and massive sliding glass doors. I'm not a realtor, designer or builder.... I'm simply obsessed with all things modern. You can also find me at modernRetake.com where I make and sell handmade beeswax, covered photo-panels.